


Not Your Everyday Fire Nation Raid

by bishounen_curious



Series: Tumblr Request Fills [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Awkward Flirting, Family Feels, Friendship, M/M, Worldbuilding, and daichi is merely a farm boy that just needed to get some potatoes for dinner, and lots of secondhand embarrassment because daichi is a dork, but everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked, even when he can earthbend, suga hinata and yachi are traveling healers that help out people attacked by fire nation soldiers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 17:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4488594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bishounen_curious/pseuds/bishounen_curious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Daichi wanted was to get some potatoes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Your Everyday Fire Nation Raid

**Author's Note:**

> people asked so they received.
> 
> also this would be absolute garbage without the proofreading prowess, endless avatar universe expertise and the great avatar au headcanons/suggestions by [chonpalm](http://absolite.co.vu) go look at her avatar au fan art and savor it. please.

“Sweetie,” Daichi’s mom called from the kitchen, “can you go outside and grab some potatoes? We’re out in here.”

“Sure thing!”

Daichi exited out the backdoor and wandered into his family’s garden. 

It was late in the summer season and everything was in bloom. Lush leaves of all varieties took up space with their wispy, wide, thick and silken shapes. The paths that had been dug up throughout the area had become crowded with overgrowth from the crops, flowering vines, young saplings, thick and dense bushes. Their personal garden wasn’t that enormous in size, but it yielded more than enough to feed the family of three. 

The Sawamuras had planted their potato crop in the center of the plot. Potatoes were at the end of their output for the season, so the young earthbender decided it best to unearth whatever was hidden beneath the soil. With a steadying breath, he grounded himself and bended the soil up in a neat upward cascade and left it to hover for a moment.

All there was on the ground was a handful of rotting tubers and wriggling earthworms.

“Crap.”

Daichi resettled the soil and returned to his mother inside. She pinched her face in annoyance and asked him if he wouldn’t mind checking the forest south of their home. Apparently a bunch of wild potatoes and other vegetables grew there near a small stream, and usually they served only as animal fodder since barely any people knew of their existence. It was only a short trip there and she really needed the potatoes for the stew she was preparing for dinner.

Daichi had finished his chores for the day awhile ago so he headed off to the aforementioned spot with happy determination.

Even though it was almost the evening, the temperature outside was absolutely sweltering. It didn’t take long for a thick layer of perspiration to coat the back of Daichi’s neck, his upper lip and then trickle down his skin like gentle rainwater. The mosquitoes had already come out and Daichi spent most of his time swatting the exposed skin of his forearms, ankles and face as he journeyed away from the outskirts of his village where his house was located and into the thick forest.

Squawking robinjays and screaming cicadas kept him company on his walk. There weren’t many people around this time of day. Most of the apothecaries collected herbs and plants in the dregs of dawn, and hunters claimed the woods at night. Most of the children in the village played games in the woods, but apparently not these since Daichi neither heard nor saw any kids anywhere. 

The ground was more green here: not pebbled or dusty or littered with boulders. It looked untouched. 

It was strange that no one was around. Daichi’s village wasn’t enormous, but by no means was it desolate. His village was near the ocean in one of the most northwestern tips of the Earth Kingdom. Several sea ports and trading meccas were only a fraction of a day’s journey away, and a lot of travelers passed through on their way to those destinations. 

In addition, it was also home to a lot of merchants, craftspeople and farmers.. There were benefits to not living in those port towns: it was conveniently close, quieter, safer and definitely a better location to raise a family. Daichi’s father was one of those farmers who had settled down here for those very reasons. Albeit the Sawamuras yielded a much smaller crop than neighboring farmers, it was enough to make a living. 

People, no matter who they were, were always doing something somewhere in the village. So this quietness was a little peculiar. Not unwelcome, just peculiar.

After several minutes, Daichi knew he was getting close. He could sense the subtle shift in the earth’s aura: more vibrancy, more activity, more energy. It was the feeling of earth affected by a nearby water source. 

Even though he knew he was very close, the earthbender couldn’t yet find any sign of these specific, coveted potatoes, or any of the vegetables that his mother had mentioned. The landscape was barren besides for the usual: tall grasses, weeds, ferns and a number of mosses lining thickly circumferenced, tall-reaching trees. It was hard not to have doubts that he had taken the right path, but he was more than positive that he had been and continued to travel in the correct direction. 

Just the absence of food was the only problem.

“Where are they?” Daichi asked himself under his breath, brow furrowing as he wiped the sweat from under his jaw and neck and then off onto his olive tunic. He didn’t want to overturn the soil and risk disturbing the plants and life around them. 

But on the other hand, if he was gone too long, his mother would definitely scold him. 

And Daichi loved her but when she wanted to be she could be _terrifying_. Enough so that he felt like he was gonna pee his pants.

Plus, if he was late dinner would be served later. Daichi’s stomach was very similar to a bottomless pit. He had eaten a full meal not long ago, and already he was starving.

So, really he needed to find these potatoes. And fast.

“Here, potato. Here potato, potato potato.” He called, voice still low. Because if anyone heard him trying to call a potato to come out of its potato hiding, he’d never be able to show his face in the village again.

“Here potato tato-tato-“

And then a shrill scream pierced the calm of the woods.

Daichi tensed. What was going on? 

A couple of birds flew towards him and away from the area of land beyond the curve of the hill - probably where the scream had come from. His body switched into autopilot and he sprinted towards the direction of the screech. 

He wasn’t exactly that good at self defense, but if he could do anything to help whomever was in danger or hurt or scared, that was good enough. If someone suffered because he had acted selfishly, he’d never be able to forgive himself.

He shoved his arm out and created an earthen path up the ledge of the hill, making it easier and faster to scale. Running and climbing would take too much time. He sprinted up the side of the hill, frantically scanning the view from his spot on the apex of the cliff.

A burst of hot orange flame below made his gut twist.

Fire?

Was that the Fire Nation…?

Why were they here?

Daichi all of a sudden wanted to turn around and go back the way he came.

Then the scream came again, and Daichi knew he couldn’t just leave. Before he realized, he was hurtling down the cliff towards the fire and screams at a frighteningly dangerous speed.

When he reached the bottom of the incline, Daichi opened his stance and prepared himself for combat. Because he knew there’d be some combat. A short distance away was a group of five Fire Nation soldiers cornering two teenagers against a dense grouping of trees. The teenagers were smallish, a redhead boy and a blonde girl in civilian clothing, both huddled against one another and shuddering in palpable fear. 

The girl let out another scream and the boy whimpered into her. Even from the distance Daichi could still hear them.

“Get away from them!” Daichi yelled, surprised how firm his voice was. The fact that it didn’t crack was a miracle because his knees were just as shaky as those two kids were.

 

One of the soldiers scoffed and adjusted his stance to face the earthbender. “Lookie here, we got ourselves a hero, huh?”

Daichi’s body was frozen stiff.

“Go home, kid.” Another soldier without a helmet called, his voice a scratchy, cocky tenor that matched his youngish face. “Or else you might get burned.”

Daichi, even though he wanted to turn tail, stood his ground.

And that must have took the soldiers off guard because they just stood there for a moment, still and uncertain. 

That moment was when Daichi noticed that these soldiers didn’t look normal. Their uniforms were off - they didn’t look right. There were rips in the cloth, some of them were without helmets and chest plates, and different shoes were worn by every single one of them and none of the pairs looked even remotely like they were military issued. They didn’t look unified or clean like all the other Fire Nation soldiers Daichi had ever encountered before.

Why did they look like that? Had they defected and gone rogue?

It didn’t matter though. Right now, the most pressing issue was to get rid of them and fast.

“You’re starting to piss me off.” The soldier first to speak growled. In a flash he swung his right leg up in the air in a perfect roundhouse arch and a fireball shot directly towards an unsuspecting and ill-prepared Daichi.

He was scared, but he wasn’t scared _stiff_. Daichi stomped on the ground and punched his fist out, and a boulder shot up to block the flame before it had the chance to singe his skin off.

“The kid wants to play.” The soldier whistled. “C’mon guys, let’s not disappoint him.”

Crap.

The entire group started to move towards him, and Daichi swallowed. Shit Shit shit. He knew how to bend, how to defend himself, but he didn’t really know how to fight off five well-trained soldiers at once.

But he was gonna damn well try.

Daichi raised up a number of medium-sized earthen forms and shot them out towards the soldiers. A response of flame and coordinated quick dodges rendered the attack useless, and Daichi started to sweat and it wasn’t from the heat.

“Nice try!” The same soldier sneered and sent a large fireball, twice the mass of Daichi’s torso and twice the speed hurtling towards him.

Daichi barely jumped out of the way, because he didn’t know if he could bend a piece of rock large enough and quick enough to protect himself. He skidded into the ground, and his skin rubbed raw against the pebbled earth. The earthbender winced, but that pain was certainly more welcome than being cooked alive.

They were moving towards him and Daichi attempted to scramble to his feet and get ready to counterattack, but they were moving too fast.

“Too slow, kid.”

That same soldier, possibly the group’s leader, cackled as he positioned himself to strike his body moving as smugly as the disgusting look curling on his weathered face. 

Daichi gulped and continued to try to scramble away on his hands and knees, but he knew he wouldn’t make it. The enemy was moving in hyper-speed and Daichi seemed to be trapped in slow motion, and he knew deep down he was finished.

Why’d it have to end here? Out of all the ways he thought he’d die, on the way to get potatoes was definitely last on his list.

The fire manifested in a hot bright streak as it shot out towards Daichi’s crumpled body, the heat magnifying as it zoomed closer and closer to burning him alive.

But then the fire exploded into hot steam that diffused in the air and evaporated into the sky.

What the hell?

Daichi searched around, but he couldn’t see the source of his savior, only the confusion of his enemies.

The soldiers were just as alarmed as he was, and they all started to join Daichi in his frantic search to locate the hiccup in their plan.

“Suga!”

One of the teenagers against the tree called out and broke the silence. It was the boy, and his pale face was glowing with relief.

A figure jumped down into the clearing, his back to Daichi.

“What’d I say about running off?” The figure scolded and gestured in exasperation with his lithe arms. He sounded young, around Daichi’s age. And he was dressed in Water Tribe garb, a blue summer sleeveless tunic, sleeveless gloves, dark flowy pants and dark boots. Daichi couldn’t help notice just how well everything coordinated with the stranger’s short, silvery hair.

“We didn’t mean to!” The boy complained, his tone loudly defensive. “Yachi saw a squirrelrabbit and chased after it, and I couldn’t let her go by herself!”

“You chased after it too!” The girl, Yachi apparently, huffed anxiously. She folded her arms with a shaky frown and reproached, “Don’t lie, Hinata!!”

“ _Shut up!_ ” It was the lead soldier who broke the argument, and he sounded livid.

“Does the Fire Nation not teach any manners?” The waterbender tsked, and cocked his head as he stood to his full height - not too tall nor not too short. Maybe just a bit shorter than Daichi. “We were having a conversation, here.”

“And we were having a fight here. That you interrupted,” The soldier bit back.

“Well, it wasn’t fair,” The waterbender teased, and Daichi blanched. Was this guy taunting Fire Nation soldiers?! “Five against three is hardly a fair fight, especially when out of those three only one of them is a bender.”

The soldiers were silent, but they still remained on the offensive. 

The new stranger giggled a little bit and raised up his arms gently. “I’m just trying to even things up.” 

And then a thick stream of water bolted like lightning from a skin slung around the waterbender’s hip and whipped right at the Fire Nation soldier’s heads. 

And the water whip hit its targets. Daichi knew instantly from the agonized screams that followed.

The waterbender laughed again easily and maneuvered his arms gracefully around him, so fluidly and naturally. The whip followed the movements and pulled back for a second strike. “Afraid of getting a little wet?”

“Get him!” One of the soldiers screamed. He swept his leg out and a low shot of flame skirted across the ground towards the waterbender’s legs.

But the stranger was not only good with a whip, he apparently was really agile, too. He jumped in time and dodged the attack, and sung tauntingly at his opponents, “Gotta do better than that!”

Daichi’s jaw hung open in awe. Who the hell was this guy? And why was he so cool?

The guy turned around to look at Daichi then and asked, with such a sweet face, “Wanna help me out, buddy?”

How could he say no?

Daichi awkwardly rose onto his feet and nodded emphatically. “Sorry, sorry!” And then with a new wave of confidence (and maybe a little bit of a desire to show off to this talented stranger) sent another barrage of rocks at the enemies and this time made some solid hits. 

Wow, and that felt kinda good. Especially when a few of those jerks started to curse in pain.

The waterbender whistled enthusiastically. “Nice shot!” And then the whip wound back around and above him, coiled to strike. A second later it lashed forward, at ankles this time, and sent bodies helplessly falling to the ground and caterwauling in pain.

Daichi bended up some unsteady earth patches and watched the soldiers trying to flee and instead tripped over his clever attack. Some of them grunted in pain, and Daichi was hopeful that maybe they had sprained or snapped an ankle or two.

“You learn fast.” The stranger crooned, and moved himself closer to Daichi, his concentrated grey eyes still locked onto the failing soldiers who were now starting to mentally accept that they had no choice but to flee. 

“I don’t normally do this kind of thing.” Daichi answered and shrugged sheepishly, bending a few dulled pillars to jut up and punch the soldiers without chest plate armor.

“I could tell. You don’t look like the fighting type.” The bender smiled at him, his eyes for the first time locked on Daichi’s. That look made Daichi feel so powerful (and it had nothing to do with beating the snot out of some Fire Nation jerks).

“Let’s go!!” One soldier screamed, and the rest scrambled away from the teenaged benders and into the thicket of trees.

When they were gone, the waterbender relaxed his posture and brought the water used in his whip back into its skin. He turned to face Daichi with a huge grin as vibrant as the full moon. And not that it mattered, but Daichi couldn’t help but notice just how pretty this strange boy was.

“Thanks for the help.” He clapped his hand on Daichi’s bare, sweaty shoulder. “I’m Suga.”

“Daichi.”

“Oooh, you’re definitely an earthbender with a name like that!” 

Daichi shrugged again and laughed, because this guy wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Thank you!!”

Oh, yeah. It wasn’t just the two of them.

Daichi was reminded instantly of that fact when he felt the wind get knocked out of him. Two small bodies jumped into him and wrapped their limbs around his frame and nuzzled their faces into his chest, gushing with overlapping praise. 

“We’re alive because of you!” The girl, Yachi, lauded.

“You’re our hero!!” The redhead, Hinata, revered. 

“What about me?” Suga faux-pouted and put his hand on his hip.

“You yelled at us!”

“You did, Suga! In front of the enemy!!”

Suga sounded exhausted when he sighed. “I wouldn’t if you both listened to me once in a while…”

Hinata just stuck out his tongue.

“Play nice.” Suga tutted as he attempted to pull Hinata off of Daichi. But Hinata was stronger than he looked, and he had wound his limbs tightly around his ‘hero’ and he wouldn’t let go, either out of spite or fear, Daichi couldn’t tell.

“Guys, you’re hurting him!” Yachi squeaked. Then she looked up at Daichi and mouthed weakly _sorry_ but didn’t make a move to remove herself from him.

Daichi had just wanted some potatoes.

“Stop acting like children!”

Suga had finally given up and took a step back away in defeat. When the waterbender was out of arm’s reach Hinata finally relented and reluctantly hopped off of Daichi. Yachi followed, gingerly stepping down and straightening her clothes. She at least had the courtesy to apologize with a slight bow.

“So,” Daichi said after he had room to breathe again, because he really wanted to know, “…you guys aren’t from around here, are you?”

“Nope!’ They said in unison.

“So… what’re you doing here? And why were there Fire Nation soldiers attacking you…?” Daichi furthered curiously.

Yachi immediately bristled and glared at Hinata. “Well, we were attacked because _someone_ had to blow our cover and try to act tough.”

Hinata balked at the accusation. “They were just stealing all those vegetables and plants and burning the soil!! They were destroying everything!”

“We almost died!”

“And what about the animals that used all that as a food source!”

“You two are giving me a headache.” Suga complained. 

Both of the younger kids shut their mouths, but still sent each other pouty glares.

“Anyway.” Suga continued after the two younger ones settled down, “We’re traveling healers.”

“Oh.” Daichi said, not expecting that as the response. “Really?”

“Mhm. We go around to villages that have been attacked by the Fire Nation and try to help the best we can. I use my waterbending to heal, and these two,” Suga gestured to the still pouting kids, “are experts with herbal medicine.”

Both Yachi and Hinata seemed to have forgiven each other enough to share a proud high-five.

“So,” Suga smiled brightly as he leaned forward and flicked both of their foreheads, earning two annoyed little grunts in response, and continued as if nothing had happened, “we were collecting some herbs around here when those kindly gentlemen showed up.”

“They were so mean.” Yachi groused, “They burned my arm a bit.”

“Me too…” Hinata said, but then perked up. “Good thing we have those aloe vera leaves!!” 

The redhead dug into his pack hanging off his back and extracted a thick, fleshy leaf. He also took out a small blade from the pack and cut off the perimeter of the leaf. Then he squeezed out the gel inside, offered a big glob to the blonde and they both applied it on their burns with pleased smiles on their faces.

“They just seemed… I don’t know… different?” Daichi mumbled to himself.. “Their uniforms were tattered and it was such a small group…”

“Yeah!” Suga agreed. “They’re a rogue group. We’ve heard about them. Apparently they defected and have spent the last several months traveling around the Earth Kingdom, stealing crops and supplies and attacking people in their way. They’re bullies.”

“Seems like it.” Daichi couldn’t argue with that.

“Yeah, we should’ve stopped them.” Suga sighed as he sat cross-legged on the ground and cradled his face in his hands, elbows resting on his thighs. “Just now, I was so focused on getting all of you safe I didn’t have the chance to think of something to do them in for good.”

“It’s okay, we appreciated it!” Hinata patted Suga on the head and beamed.

Suga’s lips quirked, but he didn’t verbally respond to Hinata. Instead he said, “I feel like we have to stop them, though. We can’t just let them go to hurt more people…”

Daichi nodded, because he couldn’t argue with that either. “Yeah… but how do we know where they’re going?”

“We could track them?” Yachi supplied, still massaging the aloe vera against her skin. 

“That’s the tricky part.” Suga clicked his tongue. “We don’t want them to get suspicious and come after us again.”

“True. We don’t want that.” Daichi agreed. “They’re dangerous, and when they’re scared, I can only imagine they get even more violent…”

“But do we have to follow them?”

“Yachi, obviously!” Hinata rolled his eyes.

“No,” she cut him off her nose scrunched in thought, “That’s not what I mean. Is there anyway we can… like find out where they’re going?”

“And meet them there?” Daichi added. “Instead of tailing?”

“Yeah!” She blinked, clarity blooming on her face like spring flowers, her mind working a mile a minute. “I don’t know what they want or what’s around here though, destination wise…”

“Well, I gather they’re looking for supplies. Food, clothing, shelter, basics.” Suga offered. “And for the details of the area…”

All eyes landed on Daichi.

“Uh…” was his enlightening response.

“Unlike us, you _are_ from around here. Right?” Suga questioned.

“I am… I just don’t know what Fire Nation soldiers could want? It’s just forest and scattered farmland around here… there’s a few ports nearby, a big trading market a few hours west -“

“That’s probably where they’re headed!” Suga’s cloud-colored eyes widened. “ Those ports. We’ve been coming from the south, and I’ve heard about them along the way. They’re big, bustling places, right? It makes sense to go there if I were a rogue Fire Nation soldier.”

“Alright, let’s head there now!” Hinata exclaimed with bubbling excitement. “Get’em while they’re weak!”

“No! Then they’ll get suspicious!!” Yachi countered..

“Sorry, but she’s right.” Suga shrugged. “We’re not in the best shape either to go after them. You two are injured. Daichi and I are exhausted. And I’m starving.”

Wow, Daichi was starving too…

Oh spirits. His mother was going to kill him.

“You can come back with me for dinner!” Daichi offered, chuckling awkwardly. “But under one condition.”

All three of the strangers blinked, cocking their heads.

“Help me find some potatoes first.”

—

“Sorry, Mom!”

When her son came back home over an hour later than he was supposed to with more potatoes in his arms than she knew what to do with and three strangers behind him, with the same amount of potatoes in their arms and with the biggest smiles she’d ever seen, she couldn’t bring herself to be mad.

It was good that potatoes were the only thing the Sawamuras were out of because the recipe had to be quadrupled because apparently they were having guests. And the guests looked hungry.

But, they were nice guests. They helped her chop, ran to the garden to fetch more herbs and vegetables (and even gave her suggestions for new ones to try) and did everything they could to not be bothersome and instead as helpful as possible.

Sure, the two younger ones were loud as could be and couldn’t for the life of them stop bantering.. Her favorite wooden spoon was almost snapped in half when it was used as a play sword, but really, she couldn’t complain. 

This wild energy was nice to have back in the house. She hadn’t seen this much spunk, this much movement or this much chatter since Daichi was a toddler wobbling around on his unsteady chubby legs, accidentally bending small pebbles and cracking pottery and once the window.

“Dad!’ Daichi called to him when his father came into the bustling kitchen with a look of confusion on his face. “We have some people over.”

She smiled again, and added the finishing touches to the stew. 

It was true: she hadn’t seen this kind of energy in this house in a long long time. And it was really wonderful to have it back. If even just for the night.

—

“Your mom’s a great cook!” Yachi fawned later that night, holding her hands against her full belly. “I haven’t eaten that much good food in forever!”

“Me neither!” Hinata chimed in. He had his eyes closed and was drooling, looking absolutely blissed out.

“I hope that isn’t a jab at me.” Suga pouted injuredly.

“It is.” The two kids said together. Daichi winced.

Now that hurt.

The earthbender was about to ask about this, find out what exactly had put those two into a momentary agreement but Suga held up a hand and mumbled, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Alright.” Daichi resigned, a little disappointed.

It was quiet for a while after that. Eventually Daichi broke the silence by awkwardly mentioning, “You guys are welcome to spend the night. But we only have one guest futon, though…”

“That’s fine!” Suga waved him off, clearly overwhelmed by the hospitality already. “We’re used to sleeping in close quarters.”

“Mhm! Hinata kicks in his sleep.”

“And Yachi drools.”

“And Suga talks.”

Daichi suddenly got curious. “I don’t know if I do anything…”

“Are we sleeping in your room?” Suga asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“..I think so.”

“Then we’ll find out.” The three said in unison.

Daichi didn’t know whether to be more self-conscious about them examining him while he slept or more freaked out that they seemed to have a knack for saying everything in unison.

Awhile later after the moon and stars were the only things lighting up the sky, Daichi helped bring the spare futon into his bedroom along with some extra pillows and sheets. His grandmother had made the bed settings with fabric she had purchased from a traveling southern Earth Kingdom merchant in town years ago. The material was soft and the color was like old tree bark. It was incredibly soft even years after being washed and scrubbed, which was good because from what Daichi’s mother had said his grandmother had paid a small fortune for it.

After they settled down, they decided to work on a strategy plan for the morning. Suga reached into his larger pack on the floor and pulled out some blank scroll and began to jot down ideas, rough map sketches, and other suggestions to help them achieve their goal of kicking some Fire Nation butt once and for all. 

They spent most of the night plotting, because tomorrow morning they’d leave for the closest port, the most likely destination of the rogue band of soldiers. According to Daichi, it was at most a four hour trip. So, in theory they should have packed it in for the night earlier on, but it was difficult to just go to sleep when so much excitement had happened earlier in the day and when so much more lie in wait for them tomorrow. Also, with the constant arguing, laughing, and just general getting to know one another conversation, they didn’t want to sleep.

And, not for nothing, but Suga just was… distracting. He kept touching Daichi’s arm when he asked him a question or for a favor. He kept shooting him this glowing smile or affectionately punching his shoulder when Daichi made him laugh or said something agreeable. And whenever the earthbender praised either of the younger for their ideas, Suga looked at him so warmly that the heat from his gaze transferred through the air and burned in Daichi’s cheeks.

And Daichi was done for when Suga removed his tunic later in the night and undid the bandages wrapped around his chest. He rolled his shoulders and then sat back down on his folded legs to do more planning, oblivious to the way he was being stared at.

Daichi didn’t even know why he was so distracted.

(Yes he did. Why was he lying to himself?)

—

Apparently, according to Suga, Daichi tossed and turned a lot in his bed.

—

Out of everything that had happened thus far, this was certainly the most ridiculous.

The three healers were practically zombies when they woke up in the morning. And none of them seemed to really wake up as the morning dragged on. 

Hinata and Yachi barely had their eyes open as they trudged on along through the forest - wait _were they actually closed?_ and Suga kept blinking and rubbing at his drowsy face, slapping his cheeks gently and shaking his head, trying to get his blood flowing and his nerves working to try and make himself more alert. It didn’t look like his method was working too well, though.

It all was very amusing.

Daichi usually got up before the sun every morning to help his father tend to the fields, so this was really just another day for him.

And for his friends, apparently, that same sentiment didn’t hold true.

“Bed.” Hinata moaned with his groggy voice, eyes most definitely shut since he kept stumbling every so often.

“We’re in the forest. There’s no bed around,” Daichi joked. He just couldn’t help himself. “The closest one is mine and it’s about half an hour behind us.”

A more whiny, childish moan left the small redhead’s mouth at the earthbender’s answer. Hinata then latched onto Daichi’s back with surprising strength for a half-asleep teenager of his size. “Carry me.”

“How old are you?” Daichi couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“Fifteen.” Hinata nuzzled into Daichi’s back. “Carry me, please?”

How could he say no?

He let the the small boy climb onto his back. Daichi supported his tiny thighs on both of his sides, while Hinata hugged around his shoulders and buried his face into his neck and in absolutely no time Daichi started to feel his breath evening out as he fell back asleep.

“Not fair.” Yachi grumbled, walking closer to the earthbender’s side in an obvious ploy to make him feel guilty (which totally worked).

“You two’ll take turns. Don’t worry.” Daichi smiled. Hinata snored.

“What about me?” Suga appeared on the other side of Daichi, and leaned against him as they walked. 

“Uh.” Daichi’s face heated up. Carry _him_? Carry that lithe, warm body against him, feel him breathe against the back of his neck, smell the scent of the woods that had absorbed into the fibers of his clothes and skin…

No, there’s no way he could carry Suga. No way at all.

So he blurted out the first lie he could come up with. “You’re too heavy.”

Suga whined a little at that. “Rude.” 

Daichi was fearful for all about a second before he could see Suga wasn’t actually mad at him. “And here I thought you were a handsome gentleman.”

_Spirits, help him._

And that’s how the rest of the walk went. Daichi switched out the two younger ones on his back every so often and stopped for short breaks, mostly for the benefit of the healers (but carrying people for hours was a little exhausting, even though the earthbender would never admit that aloud). 

On one of those breaks, they shared some bread Daichi had snagged from his kitchen before they had left that morning. And it was a huge hit. All three of them made happy little sounds as they ate. They all sat close, practically cuddling since the two youngest weren’t quite yet awake and Suga seemed to be sweet on them so he let them doze as he ran his hands through both their hair as they semi-consciously gobbled up the bread.

“Thank you.” Suga shifted his head to look at Daichi, who was finishing his last piece. “Really.”

“I mean, I haven’t done anything -“

“No, you have. You saved their lives. Then gave us shelter last night, fed us. Babied these two. You must be exhausted, by the way.” Suga was smiling, and he stopped petting Hinata’s head and reached out to lay his hand on Daichi’s arm as a gesture of gratitude.

The contact made his skin feel like it was burning. But Suga was so gentle, everything about him was so graceful and practiced, so how could his touch feel like fire? Daichi swallowed a lump in his throat (it wasn’t bread) and tried to appear as if that gesture wasn’t making his heart race wildly in his chest. 

“It’s no problem.” Daichi choked out. 

Dammit.

Suga suddenly looked positively smug. “You’re getting all sweaty. And your pulse is unbelievable.”

He _knew_. He had to, but he didn’t say anything more about it. It was simultaneously frustrating and relieving. Instead the waterbender stroked Daichi’s arm for a moment before he returned his touch to the redhead’s scalp. But, he still was giving Daichi this look that was making him shiver.

Daichi was going to die.

He was definitely going to die.

—

The port was nothing like those huge metropolises you hear about in stories. 

There wasn’t an innumerable amount of ships in the harbor, the streets weren’t so grossly packed that you couldn’t move, and overall the sheer size of the town wasn’t too large. There were a couple of main streets lined with storefronts and tents pitched up by traveling merchants and farmers and fishers, all competing to sell their goods. It was lively and loud, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

The four of them walked towards the center of town. They had to move single file because there were people going up and down the stretch of road with bags full of their purchases, and the streets were fairly narrow, so walking side by side was both rude and impossible. 

As they walked Yachi turned around and gave Suga, who was in the back of the line, the most begging look she muster. 

“Can we go look at the apothecary stalls? Please?”

She was definitely awake now.

Suga shook his head gently and said over the noise. “Later. We have some business we have to finish first.”

“It’s Fire Nation butt-kicking time.” Hinata who was behind Yachi leered at her, and Yachi balked at his creepy face.

“We’re almost to the center of town!” Daichi called from the front.

“Why’re we going there?” Suga inquired, a puzzled look dawning on his features.

“It’s a central location. Plus it’s a good meeting place for us to return to after we split up to look for those soldiers.” Daichi responded easily, clearly pleased with his well-reasoned plan.

“I have a better idea.” Suga declared coyly. The next thing the earthbender realized was that he was being grabbed by the collar. And then the youngest were both grabbed too, and all three of them were dragged down a nearby alleyway, all of them protesting and receiving stares from the people around them.

“What’s wrong with my plan?” Daichi asked (complained).

“We have a secret weapon.” Suga beamed and wiggled his eyebrows.

“We do?” They all asked together (and Daichi was only a little freaked that he was starting to get involved with this unison thing).

Suga rolled his eyes. “Hinata, get on this roof.”

Daichi looked up at the height of the roof. Then he looked at the lack of objects that could be used to climb up onto that sad roof. And then he looked down at the small redhead and blinked a few times. Was that a joke? “Um…”

“Sure!” Hinata exclaimed and started to swing down, preparing himself to jump.

Daichi blanched. What the hell?

But then Hinata was up, he was soaring into the sky, and his hands caught the edge of the roof and he started to hoist himself up onto it.

Daichi couldn’t believe it.

Suga looked super proud. 

“How did he just -!”

“It’s a talent.” Suga grinned up at Hinata, who was now standing on the roof and waving down at them. 

“I could’ve just bended us a rock ladder to get up there…” Daichi’s voice trailed off.

“Nope.” Suga countered. “This is way better for morale.”

Morale??

“Can you check around the town to see if those bad guys are here yet?” Suga hollered up to him.

“Sure thing!” Hinata saluted the group before he disappeared with a spring in his step. 

“Can I please go check to see if anyone’s seen them yet?” Yachi asked wasting no time, her eyes sparkling hopefully. “I’ll only go check the stalls around here! I promise!”

Even Daichi could see the ulterior motive in her eye, but Suga let her go anyway. And she grinned brightly and dashed away with unrestrained excitement.

“They’re good kids.” Suga said when she was out of earshot and leaned against Daichi’s shoulder.

“Mhm.” Daichi agreed, and felt his pulse starting to wreak havoc in his chest again.

Suga responded with a breathy laugh. “You’re silly.”

“W-why?”

“Read my body language.”

Was this a game?

Daichi swallowed and did his best. “You’re… leaning on me. And you’re laughing and - oh, _okay_ , now you’re trying to _hold my hand_. W-we’re holdings hands now.”

Suga squeezed his fingers in Daichi’s. “Yep. So what do you think that means?”

Daichi spluttered uselessly. “I-“

“I’m reciprocating.” Suga said simply, a little quiet. “It’s alright. Don’t be so nervous.”

Daichi swallowed again and didn’t say anything.

But then Daichi felt something on his free hand. He looked down in alarm and saw a thin tendril of water curling around his arm. It was cool and gentle as it made contact with his skin and then it was awkwardly pulling his hand up and towards Suga’s chest. Daichi stared at Suga, because he couldn’t believe this but he _knew Suga was behind this little stunt_ and the waterbender had this embarrassed yet very, _very_ pleased look on his face. 

Daichi’s hand was being manipulated to to land on Suga’s chest, resting over his heart.

The earthbender’s eyes widened a bit. Suga’s pulse was just as erratic.

“See?” 

And then the water went back into his skin but Daichi’s hand stayed exactly where it was. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

_Because I’m just as nervous as you are._

Daichi smiled easily, the easiest he had since he met the waterbender yesterday, and leaned into his Suga’s body. His hand eventually dropped away and hung back at his side, yet still the one being held finally squeezed tighter and Suga squeezed back.

Suga giggled, and his skin seemed to radiate sunlight.

The redhead didn’t return for a couple of minutes, and the two boys were more than content to just stand there in silence with one another. But when Hinata did show up he surprised the benders by landing in front of them with a playful look on his face. 

“I didn’t see those jerks anywhere.” Hinata reported, still grinning, looking at the two boys’ entwined fingers with barely contained amusement.

Suga squeezed Daichi’s fingers in retaliation, and Daichi felt his face turning redder than those soldiers’ uniforms.

“Hey, where’s Yachi?” Hinata blinked suddenly. 

“She was checking the market to ask around.” Suga supplied.

And as if on cue there were screams echoing through the air and making the three boys jump in their skin.

“Not again.” Daichi groaned.

But the two healers weren’t paying attention to him.

“We need to go. _Now_.” Suga’s flirtatious manner had turned into absolute severity in a manner of seconds. He was off sprinting towards the screaming even faster towards where Yachi had run off to, and he motioned for Hinata and Daichi to follow.

“I’m coming, Yachi!” Hinata yelled, and dashed to catch up to Suga’s speed.

Daichi, once again, felt absolutely lost as he awkwardly ran after them.

When they reached the main road stretch, there were people scattered and swarming and fleeing in every conceivable direction. It was absolute chaos. 

The three of them were on the defensive when an older man collided into Daichi as he frantically hobbled away from whatever it was that had caused the mass panic.

“Fire Nation soldiers!” He lamented with a wail. “Save yourselves!” And he furiously tottered away, racing with his cane to get himself to safety.

“Found ‘em.” Suga rolled his eyes, and bended his water whip out into a ready position.

“I don’t see them…” Daichi mumbled, even more lost.

“It’s an expression!” Suga said exasperatedly.

But then there was a blast of flames shooting out of a storefront a hundred yards down the road.

“Or maybe not…” The waterbender deadpanned and started to run towards the smoke, ash and heat.

They hurried down but then several bodies emerged from the blaze. The same rogue group of five they had encountered yesterday waltzed out of the now-burning building with a couple sacks full of what was most likely everyday necessities and a struggling Yachi doing everything in her power to both get away from the soldiers and insult them.

“Do you know just how many rare herbs you just burned? Just because you’re too dumb to know what they are doesn’t mean you can just destroy them! I NEEDED THAT BLOOD FLOWER AND YARROW.”

She was like a jittery little mouserat getting into a fight with a lionwolf.

“Shut your mouth.” One of the soldiers growled at her.

“You’re the most annoying hostage ever.”

“Wait… doesn’t she look familiar?”

“Yeah, hold on…”

“Let her go!” Suga demanded. They were starting to catch on. All the soldiers whipped their heads to stare at the small group of teenagers that they hadn’t noticed had approached them.

“I know why she looks familiar.” One of the soldiers said. “It’s _them_.”

“You found me!” Yachi was ecstatic, and wiggled even more as she tried to break free, but the soldier’s grasp was just too strong.

“Are you following us?” The leader of the group spat, and shifted his form into a defensive stance.

“Maybe we are.” Hinata yelled back. “If you weren’t so obvious about everything, then maybe we wouldn’t have been able to!!”

Daichi was beginning to panic and tried to _shhh_ the redhead. Did Hinata forget they were holding Yachi hostage? And did he forget they were terrible, violent and short-tempered people?

The leader was silent for a moment before he gestured to one of his soldiers, his wrist looping once and his fingers twitching at torso level. 

“Let’s go.”

And the soldier holding Yachi, who was in the middle of another bitter rant about the preciousness of the herbs in that apothecary ship, hit her square in the back of the head and instantly her body slumped motionless and silent in the soldier’s arms.

“Yachi!!” Hinata screamed, terror freezing his bones.

“You’ll pay for that!” Suga growled and beckoned his whip with a staccato swish of his arms to lash out at the soldiers’ heads. 

But his movements weren’t quick enough, because they dodged the incoming attack and shot a fireball at the whip. The two elements collided and a good portion of the water erupted into hissing steam and evaporated away.

“Daichi!” Suga called, panic lilting in his voice now. He was out of water. “Do something!”

The soldiers were already fleeing with Yachi’s unconscious body in tow and their sacks of goods down the road. 

Daichi shakily but confidently nodded, because he had to, because his _friends_ needed him, and he wanted to help them, to protect them.

The same attacks wouldn’t work, he thought. What happened to Suga was proof enough.

Luckily, Daichi had at least one trick up his sleeve. 

If he could pull it off, that is.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt the earth steady below him. He could feel the footsteps of the soldiers, the stance of his friends, the weight of buildings. Daichi exhaled. And then he pulled his fist up skyward and stomped down, and felt the earth, yards away from him, shoot up forcibly with his will.

Daichi opened his eyes when he heard a yelp. 

One of the soldiers was screaming, his voice muffled and terrified, inside of the earth prison he had created. It was a closed cube of earth, barely taller than the soldier himself. Even though there were no openings in the structure they still could hear his anxious yelling.

Bingo.

“Daichi, incredible!” Suga was floored. Incredulously he went up to the earth prison and inspected it with his curious hands. “I didn’t even know this was possible..”

Daichi felt warm satisfaction creep up into his belly. 

Suga was impressed with him. 

Suga thought he was talented. That he was _cool_.

But he couldn’t relish in that feeling for long. Because even if the move had been successful, he still didn’t capture the other four rogues, or even the one that had absconded with poor unconscious Yachi.

“We still have to save her.” Daichi responded, shifting back into serious mode and started to chase after the soldiers. 

“We’re coming!” Suga said, his body thrumming with adrenaline but Hinata grabbed the back of his tunic and kept the waterbender still for a moment.

“We’re just gonna leave him here…? Is he gonna suffocate?” Hinata bit his lip, guilt dripping in his words and hunching his shoulders.

“But Yachi…” Suga answered, helpless.

“It’s alright, we got this.”

Both boys whipped around to see a pair of local officials standing side by side. 

“Police. We’ll take care of him.” One of the officers smirked and elbowed the earth prison. “Him and the rest of his little group is wanted by every nation, especially the Fire. We’ll ship him back and let Fire Lord Ozai deal with him. Go save your friend.”

Hinata and Suga nodded thankfully, and sprinted to catch up with Daichi.

“Hey!” Suga yelled through his heavy breathing when they finally caught up, “Do we know where they went?”

“Turned at the next alleyway!” Daichi called back, and hooked a left where he said to and the other two followed.

“What’re we gonna do?” Hinata whined, fear bubbling in his hazel eyes. “What if they kill her?”

“They’re not gonna kill her!” Suga promised quickly, honestly. “We’ll save her before they even have the chance to think one bad thought about her, okay?”

Hinata puffed out his cheeks and suddenly shot off ahead of the two benders, screaming. “I’ll save you, Yachi!!”

‘No Hinata! Left, _left_!”

A blast of fire erupted into the air on their right and a chorus of horrified fearful shrieks followed the blaze’s roar.

“Never mind, you were right! This way, come back, let’s go!”

Daichi couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so winded. His heart was beating fast and hard enough to feel like it was gonna burst, sweat was drenching through his tunic and his throat felt like sandpaper it was so parched. But he felt alive and excited and he was helping his friends.

He felt good.

“What the hell!?” One of the soldiers wailed when Daichi practically tripped into the road and cut off the band of rogues’ on their current path. “How do you kids keep -“

“Daichi, duck!”

Daichi hit the ground right before a ice shards zoomed overhead and bulleted right at the group. He had shielded his face but the couple of shrieks that pierced the air signaled that Suga’s sneak attack had worked.

“Where’d you get the water?” Daichi asked as he jumped back up and started to bend some rocks up to use as projectiles. 

“Out of a water jug while we were running!” Suga beamed and conjured up some more ice shards to send towards the enemies.

“Nice!”

And both of them bended their ice and earth out towards the soldiers and listened to them scream.

But as they were making and releasing the projectiles, they both turned around because Hinata had been eerily quiet since and -

\- _Hinata wasn’t there._

“Where is he?” Suga distressed.

“He was right behind us!”

“Hey jerkbenders! Take this!”

Ah. There he was.

Hinata had somehow got himself onto the roof of one of the buildings and had the most mischievous look on his face as he began pelting rocks at the soldiers’ heads. He had this tongue in the corner of his mouth as he tried to aim at vital spots - exposed faces, skulls and hands. And surprisingly he was a damn good shot.

“You coulda told us where you went!” Suga nettled, and reverted back to his trusty water whip.

“Element of surprise! That’s what you always say, Suga!” 

Hinata cackled as he threw a particularly bigger and more jagged rock at the head of a soldier and looked absolutely enraptured when it smacked right into his helmet and knocked him onto his butt. 

“That one’s for kidnapping my best friend!”

“Enough!” The leader roared suddenly, and delivered a cascade of whitish flame up at Hinata. The redhead screamed in a mixture of fright and pain and then disappeared. He probably had fallen onto the roof. Which was relieving that he hadn’t fallen off but incredibly bad since the upper part of the building had caught fire and began to burn hot and bright.

“Hinata!” Daichi screamed, already thinking of a million ways to rescue him, but then all those plans were out of his brain because sudden agony blistered through his leg. 

Daichi’s eyes shot down to see his leg on fire.

_Oh, Spirits help him._

Suga shrieked and doused Daichi’s leg with water as fast as possible. The coolness and contact made Daichi wince harshly because even if he hadn’t been burning for long, his skin still had been _burned_. Burned raw. His leg felt weak and fragile and he grit his teeth and scowled at the leader, who was laughing cruelly at them.

“Children, what’d you think would happen? If you mess with fire you’re gonna get burned.”

_That jerk._

Suga glared at soldier but used the rest of his water to extinguish the fire starting to grow out of control up on the building where Hinata was. He looked at Daichi, his jaw clenched, “Sorry I can’t heal you now. We don’t have a cover.”

“It’s fine.” Daichi muscles were tense, trying to distract himself from the unbelievable pain. He’d gotten burned before in the kitchen, a bit on the hand, a little on the arm from cooking, but never like this. It never hurt this bad. It never made Daichi feel like he couldn’t think, couldn’t bend, couldn’t breathe.

“Consider yourselves lucky that we went easy on you yesterday. But today you’re not gonna be so fortunate.” Another rogue cackled. “Hope you told your parents you loved ‘em.”

Suga balled his hands into fists and stared at the soldiers with blistering hate, but stayed silent.

Daichi could only swallow from the pain, holding onto the waterbender for support.

 _I guess this is the end_ , Daichi thought and closed his eyes.

The three soldiers then, following a callous nod from their leader, lined up in a row before the two benders. The soldiers, with varying degrees of brutality etching their faces, crouched down into identical positions. 

This was it. 

And the trio sprung up like a loaded spring. Their legs shot up in the air and a powerful ball of flame burned into appearance and immediately rushed towards Suga and Daichi, both hunched over one another and terrified to death or dying.

But the fire never hit because a thick wall of stone sprung up between them and the attack just in time to save their skin.

Both boys blinked at each other. Were they dead? Then they timidly reached out with their shaking fingers and touched it. The stone was cold and rough.

It was as real as their spasming pulses shuddering their veins.

“That wasn’t me.” Daichi admitted, his voice cracking.

Suga just swallowed. 

“You guys alright?!” 

A youngish girl suddenly was between them and the earthen tower wall. Both Suga and Daichi almost had a heart attack when she appeared and jumped backwards and shaking in their boots. She touched both of their cheeks softly with a worrying look on her roundish yet petite face. It was obvious that she was around the same age as them and sported cropped brunette hair and large twinkling eyes.

“Did you -?” Suga gestured his thumb to the stone wall, gaping dumbly.

She nodded with a dutiful yet appreciative smile. “Yep!”

Some terrified yelps and struggling sounds permeating the air. Suga and Daichi froze, but she smiled wider. With a powerful motion she bent the rock wall back into the ground and what they saw on the other side almost made Suga and Daichi gasp.

A flurry of people were surrounding the Fire Nation soldiers, benders and non benders alike. Several people were wielding brooms and swords and rocks while others held protective stances ready to attack in a moment’s notice.

Daichi looked back at their savior. That’s when he noticed she was in official clothing. Law enforcement clothing. 

“Police?”

She nodded again and bowed with an energetic flourish. “Michimiya Yui, reporting for duty!”

A loud noise turned all of their heads. Another officer in the same garb as Yui had bended the soldiers into individual prisons. Unlike Daichi’s, they were smaller, denser and you couldn’t hear a single scream from any of the four capture Fire Nation soldiers. 

Both boys were overcome with joyful relief. But Suga’s didn’t stay for long because it gave way to panic.

“There was a girl with one of them -“

“She’s all good!” Yui cut him off, placating him. She motioned to one of the police officers holding an unconscious familiar body in his big arms.

“And on that building right there -!” Daichi added just as worriedly.

“Oh, Spirits, he’s -“

“You mean me?” Hinata called from the roof. He was weakly grinning, holding up both a thumbs up and his bag full of herbs and flowers and plants. “I can take care of myself just fine!”

“Go help him, please.” Daichi begged Yui, and she gave him an affirmative salute and did just that.

Suga sighed in relief when he realized they all had made it out in one piece. “Let’s patch you up.”

“Please.” Daichi wheezed, attempting to hold back the tears pricking his eyes at the escalating, burning agony consuming his leg and shooting up through his nerves.

Suga helped Daichi onto his back on the ground. The waterbender kneeled beside his leg, the dark fabric of the pant leg singed off and the skin an angry blistering reddish white. 

Suga’s hands hovered over the damaged flesh, barely touching. His face screwed up in concentration. Then a soft glow appeared below his palms and on the top layer of skin. An instant coolness and relief blossomed in the center of the pain, and it chased away the pain from Daichi’s body as his skin began to mend. It felt good, and Daichi shivered.

“Thanks,” he breathed weakly, enraptured. 

Suga’s lips quirked but he stayed quiet as he finished healing his burns.

Yui came back moments later with Hinata curled in her arms. He was a little dazed but overall intact.

“Your friend is being tended to by the medics, but I think she’s fine. Just a couple of bruises and a few slight burns. Nothing we can’t fix.”

“Thank you so much.” Suga praised as he completed treating Daichi’s wound. When the waterbender’s hands moved away from his leg and the soft light vanished, Daichi was a little disappointed. He kind of wished Suga could heal him all day long. “How’d you find us?”

“We have eyes everywhere.” Yui smirked. “Plus, you guys’ fight wasn’t exactly quiet.”

Suga giggled at that.

“But really, thanks for helping us out!” Yui exclaimed as she helped Hinata onto the ground besides Daichi. “They could’ve done a lot more damage but you kept that from happening. You even cornered them for us, too! Seriously you all were a huge help! Especially because the reward on these guys is so big.”

She gigged again and rubbed her palms together. “That means I might get a raise.”

Daichi arched an eyebrow at her, and Yui added, almost reluctantly. “And you four will get a cut of that too.”

Suga laughed at her. “It’s no problem. As long as everyone’s safe, we’re more than content.” He stood up and reached an arm down to help Daichi onto his feet, which made the earthbender blush. He accepted the help anyway. 

Even after he was standing, Suga refused to let go of his hand and continued on. “Do you have any other injured? I’m a healer, and he,” pointing at the redhead, “can put a lot of medicinal doctors to shame.” 

Hinata flushed at the compliment.

“No, we’re okay! You guys really helped us out and we have everything under control.” Then she smiled sweetly and just a little bit teasing. “Oh, and you two are a cute couple.”

Daichi and Suga looked at her in embarrassment and said simultaneously, “ _We’re not_ -“

“Alright, alright.” She waved her hands. “But thanks, really. If you don’t mind, the whole force would love to treat you all to a meal. Down at the police headquarters today.”

“Awesome!” Hinata was instantly sold and decided for them. “We’d love to!”

So they did.

—

“You were so cool yelling at those Fire Nation guys!” Hinata exclaimed through a mouthful of cooked meat as he gesticulated wildly at a flushing Yachi. “You were like _shut up losers!_ ”

“I didn’t say that.” She puffed out her cheeks and colored up some more. “But they ruined a whole bunch of things I wanted to buy…”

“Still, it was so cool!” Hinata chewed and swallowed everything in his mouth before kissing her cheek. 

Yachi’s responsive smile was almost too wide to fit on her face.

“Did you see that?” Suga snickered excitedly, his voice lowered, even though he was only a few feet away from the two nonbenders. “They kill me, they’re so adorable.”

“Yeah, they are pretty cute.” Daichi nodded and grabbed at some more noodles on the platter in front of him.

Suga hummed and chewed on a roll thoughtfully before his eyes flickered over to Daichi. “Say. I should say thank you again, too.”

“But I definitely didn’t do anything to deserve that.” Daichi laughed truthfully. “The police and townspeople kinda saved the day here.”

“Yeah, but you definitely helped.” Suga grinned and scrunched up his nose. He wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“So did you!” Daichi countered, shoving Suga’s shoulder affectionately. “My leg feels better than ever!”

“Good to hear.” Suga’s light eyes went back to his roll. “So.. but yeah, thanks for everything. It was really nice to meet you.”

And that’s when realization and apprehension started filling up Daichi’s gut.

“Wait, are you _leaving_ after this…?”

Suga shrugged his shoulders and looked just as uncomfortable. “It’s the only option, really. We travel around. None of us have a home to go back to, after all.”

_Oh._

Daichi couldn’t swallow down his next words. “But I like you all. I _like you_.”

Suga’s eyes widened a bit but he stayed quiet.

“You… you made everything so interesting. I got to get out of my village. I haven’t done that in years! I took down bad guys, I made friends. I had so much fun.” Daichi couldn’t stop himself from talking. “I don’t want you to go.”

Suga laughed but it didn’t sound genuine. “But you have a life here. And we can’t exactly just stay put here.”

“Yes you can!” Daichi nodded quickly, emphatically. “You can stay with my family! Both my parents like you! And Hinata and Yachi! Or, or if not, I could come with you sometimes on trips. We could travel together, maybe find some more bad guys to take down…!”

Suga started to laugh, but this time it was real. Daichi could tell because his smile reached all the way up to his eyes. “You’ve got a head full of dreams there,” and poked at the earthbender’s forehead with his index finger.

Daichi narrowed his eyes and smirked, “Is that you reciprocating again?”

Suga’s mouth opened to argue but he didn’t say a word. He just looked so shocked that his words were thrown back at him like that. In such a perfect way, too.

Daichi even was proud of himself for that one.

“Do you really wanna see me reciprocate?” Suga all of a sudden had this look in his eye that made Daichi’s stomach bubble with heat. Suga cocked his head to the side and bit his bottom lip and Daichi _knew_ and he really, really wanted to get _reciprocated_ on all day long.

“Maybe.”

Suga wasted no time as he leaned in and pressed their mouths together in a quick kiss. Daichi’s breath hitched, because even though he knew he still was surprised. But he pressed back, he brought Suga closer with his hand on his face and the other one now on his hips (when had that happened?) and eventually they pulled away, embarrassed as can be but smiling stupidly and contentedly and overwhelmingly _relieved_.

Daichi licked his lips and laughed as he caught his breath. “Is it my turn?”

“Do your worst.” Suga challenged, and Daichi _did_.

“Hinata, look! _Look!_ ”

“I told you they’d kiss!” Hinata cheered.

“Hey, what happened to you two not being a couple!” Yui complained with a small grin.

 _And all of this_ , Daichi thought as he kissed Suga, _because of potatoes_.

**Author's Note:**

> this was almost titled "The Potatoes of Destiny" or "Flameo Potato" fyi
> 
> http://bishounen-curious.tumblr.com


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